Elliot snorted. “You haven’t seen bad. I hope your bride is ready for the invasion. Let’s go rescue her.”
* * * * *
“Harder. Harder!” Sam grunted when Raina punched the heavy bag three times in quick succession. “Just because you disappeared for three days doesn’t mean you get to ignore your workouts. Vacation time is over.” He patted the bag and waited until she punched again, this time with enough force to knock it back against him.
“That’s more like it.”
Rock music blared from the speakers behind her as Raina channeled every bit of her rage at the face she was imagining on the bag in front of her.
Thwack. That was for being so convincing. Thwack. That was for invading so much of her mental space. Thwack. That was for being so damn good-looking.
She stopped in mid-punch at the thought. God, she was supposed to be using this time to catch up on things and gain some perspective. Instead, she was just daydreaming about him. How was she supposed to think of anything but him when he looked at her like that, like their marriage was real? Like she was his whole world.
The man was pure evil.
“Any other man would take offense to that.” Sam raised an eyebrow when her eyes met his.
“Oh. I wasn’t actually talking about you.” Raina stopped punching and blew out her breath.
Sam slapped the bag. “If you’ve got enough energy to daydream, clearly I’m not working you hard enough. Come on. Go again.”
Raina groaned. “I take it back. I was talking about you. You are evil.”
“But you look good, right?”
Raina punched the bag once more, satisfied when he jumped at the sudden movement.
“You bet your ass I do.” She stretched her arms overhead, reveling in the burn of her muscles.
Building a fully quipped home gym was one of the first things she’d done when she bought the house. Modeling was a career where women had a much shorter-than-average shelf life as a rule. Raina was smart enough to know her days were numbered, but she was determined to stay in the game as long as possible and then transition over into several side projects she was working on. Now that she’d gotten a network to carry her reality show, she was hoping it would do well enough for her to land a book deal. If everyone from Snooki to those housewives on TV could get publishing contracts, then why not her?
Sam walked over to the small cooler in the corner of her home gym and pulled out two bottles. He handed her one and then took a deep swig of his.
“Yuck. What is this stuff?” Sam held the bottle of bright green liquid away from him as if it was toxic.
“It’s called Grenade. Remember the ad I did for the vitamin supplement? Well, one of the marketing guys sent me some free samples of their newest product.”
Sam shook his head and placed the cap back on his bottle. “I can see why they’re giving it away.”
They were interrupted by a loud chirping sound. Raina had just taken a big sip of her own drink, so she just pointed toward the treadmill where she’d left her cell phone. Sam walked over and picked it up. After a quick glance at the screen, he smirked.
“It’s Alexander. You want me to answer?”
Raina gulped down the mouthful of bitter juice and held out her hand. As soon as he gave it to her, she hit the button to silence the call. Sam narrowed his eyes.
“What? I’ll just call him back after I’m done working out.”
Sam shrugged. “Okay. Whatever you say. But just tell me one thing. And you have to promise to tell me the truth.”
Raina sighed and put her bottle back in the refrigerator. She didn’t meet his eyes, just went back over to the heavy bag and waited. When he didn’t follow, she let out a loud, exasperated sigh.
“I have many faults, but I’ve never been a liar. Ask me anything. Maybe then you’ll finally stop worrying.”
Sam waited until she came back and stood next to him. “Do you love this guy?”
Raina bit her lip. “You know I don’t believe in love. He’s a nice guy and I think he’ll make a great dad. I love that about him.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t believe in love. If something bad happened to him, how would you feel? Would you be sad for a few minutes and then move on?”
Raina picked at the edge of the boxing glove she held. She didn’t have to be in love with him to miss his smile. His laughter. His way of talking her off the ledge when she was worried about something. Even in the abstract the thought of anything happening to Nick made her heart race.
“No, I wouldn’t just be sad for a few minutes.”
She had a feeling that if anything happened to Nick, she’d be sad for the rest of her life.
CHAPTER NINE
RAINA TURNED AT the sound of the bathroom door banging open. After finishing her workout, she’d immediately come upstairs to shower and wash her hair. Sam wouldn’t bother her unless it was important. She pushed the glass shower door to the side slightly and called out, “Sam? What’s wrong?”
“It’s not Sam. It’s me.”
Raina pulled the door open a bit more and stuck her head out into the cold air of the bathroom. “Ridley? What are you doing here?”
Ridley was wearing a pair of leggings with a hole in the knee and the ugliest sweatshirt she’d ever seen.
“And what the hell are you wearing? I hope no one saw you dressed like that.”
Ridley glared at her and pulled her towel off the rack. “I’m trying to save you. Mrs. Alexander came by the house. She heard about your marriage and wanted me to bring her to see her new daughter-in-law. She’s downstairs. Right now!”